Ice Wars Opinions

Pairs technical programs: While I enjoyed their style, and the technique, I didn't see much growth from both teams from Salt Lake. The Meadowlands program that B/S skated reminded me of Dark Eyes '98. The Crying program that S/P skated reminded me of Love Story, but rather than Jamie dying, they're broken up. However, I liked their transitions better than B/S's, probably because of their transitions in and out of lifts. B/S had more speed, but S/P had more speed in the lifts. Judges gave B/S higher marks.

Viktor Petrenko's artistic program (Flight) is beautiful, he is a wonderful jumper, but his arms remind me of Irina Slutskaya- all over the place. His program is vintage Viktor, however- very dramatic.

Kurt's tap program (Ding Dong Daddy) has some footwork that will make Morozov drool. And wow! Kurt looks so fit! But when he's not doing footwork, he seems to be doing a lot of two-foot skating...

Browning beat Petrenko- 99.8/97.6

Nicole Bobek (Dust in the wind) beautiful dress. Balletic arm movements...reminds me of Rosalynn Sumners in her heyday. Double flip- landed. lots of moves in the fields, spinning on the toe pick. nice high double axel...travelled a bit in her combination spin. good speed. good flying inside edge camel a-la Sarah. Finishing with her trademark spiral sequence. ending position. split on the ice. She started crying at the end of routine. Beautiful. Wow. A tad slow, though.

Oksana Baiul (Swan Lake- Tchaikovsky- Lillehammer!) Boureeing on toes. Flapping on the ice. White outfit this time. Triple salchow- landed, with speed! Catchfoot spiral, good edge. Good camel spin, no travelling. More bourees and arm flapping through footwork. Good speed in this program. Landing triple toe loop; two- footing double axel. She has this real fight in her jumps. Catchfoot camel to end routine.OMG I AM SEEING OKSANA OF 1993!!! She had so much speed!

Ilia Kulik (A House Is Not A Home) Petrenkoish arm movements, but more speed, and he's much more pleasing to watch. His backoutside edge spiral is beautiful. Something many of today's men can learn from. good spring on triple flip. Flying camel, again, something most of the men can learn from. Triple lutz landing had a smooth edge, but he can stretch his free leg more. straightline footwork very ilia- tons of waltz/mazurka jumps. double axel, smooth, and the split slide on the ice...OUCH...i don't think it fit the program. he bends his knee in the spiral, and only one spin...

Brian Boitano (Persistence of Time) Creative murder mystery theme. Beautiful spread eagle into tano triple lutz. He sits on a chair- I hate it when skaters sit down for longer than five seconds! Not too many arm movements, like Kulik and Petrenko. Telegraphed triple toe/double toe/double loop. Very quick head movements. Fast footwork, not as fast as kurt. Beautiful triple salchow! Fastest spinner, IMHO in the men's competition. Great spread eagle into (i missed the entrance of the jump) a triple of some sort. the jump was beautiful. landed well, great rotation. i just missed the entrance.

Sale/Pelletier (Who Wants To Live Forever a-la Woetzel/Steuer) Not like the traditional programs (lovey dovey) that we see from most pairs. Their interpretation is better than W/S. David has a great spread eagle! Good speed into and out of throw triple salchow. They actually try spins they didn't try in their eligible days. Adagio lift was beautiful, and the drop dismount fit the music. They did, however, do too much posing in the middle. I think the drum beats could have been better used for footwork. Nice triple twist lift. (ooh! the wind lifted dave's shirt...nice six pack), another good lift, with great dismount (rotational dismount). Not too many arm movements. Her spiral reminds me of Josee Chouinard. Strange...I didn't see a death spiral...

Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze (Let Me Fall) Yelena, get rid of the pink outfit. She has great turnout in spread eagle. I like the leap of faith. Good transition from leap of faith to a move in the field (he's in a spread eagle while she maintains the dive position). High split double twist. She fell (like the song asks) on the throw triple loop, which I think interrupted the following carry lift. Scary fall; her foot didn't stay on the ice! I like their death spiral positions and how many turns they do, but I don't like how she sticks up her butt before entering the death spiral. The split carry lift is very elementary, IMHO. They didn't have as much speed here as they did in the technical program, and the moves looked the same, set to different music. I liked their rotational star lift. It kinda got cold. No more mistakes after the throw, but there was no more passion.

S/P beat B/S- 98.8/97.6.

Overall- World team defeats North America- 588.9/588.6

Am I the only one who thinks that Yelena Berezhnaya looks like Reese Witherspoon?

I simply cannot go to bed until I express my joy of tonight's Ice Wars.........especially of one of my all-time favorite skater's performance ~ Oksana Baiul..........literally wept with joy not only b/c of this exceptional performance but also b/c it coincided with the birth of my baby nephew, Samuel, today (no lie).

Okay, the following are the emotions I felt while watching (w/my baby niece, Selena, btw) these particular performances (btw only included the ones that I greatly enjoyed; though ALL the skaters' deserve a round of applause):

Viktor Petrenko (Hotel California) - lovely.....took me back to the days of the 1970's when I was a child.....absolutely love that music. And Viktor's interpretation of this classic did it justice. (:^)

Ilia Kulik (Nutcracker) - mood was set right from the beginning........soft, classical, lovely.......what a pleasure to watch. (:^)

S&P (Crying) - love the music........really set the mood.........K.D. Lang sure can sing. And S&P's interpretation of this classic song was pretty darn good. (:^)

***Note: really upset that Nicole Bobek's program wasn't shown ~ she has always been a favorite of mine (no lie).***

LP's

Kurt Browning (Ding Dong Daddy) - aaah, he truly is the master when it comes to footwork........now this is the way it should be done.......superb! (:^)

Nicole Bobek (Dust in the Wind) - wow, what to say......simply a joy to watch.......as always. Another memorable performance from someone that has always had it all (aka natural with an added dash of personality)! (:^D

Oksana Baiul (Swan Lake) - OMG, OMG, OMG (no lie)........truly cannot put into words how this program made me feel, coupled with the emotion of welcoming my first baby nephew into the world today........just simply unbelievable (btw I literally cried all the way through it; tears of joy btw). Oksana has truly outdone herself with this piece..........didn't think the day would come where I would ever enjoy a program more than I do The Swan........but, alas, that day has come. Everything was perfect ~ from the tips of her languid fingers ~ down to the elegant silvery white decoration on the right side of her classic chignon. BRAVO, MOULYA, BRAVO!!!! (:^D What a joy to see you so happy, healthy, and in love ~ things I have always wished for you ~ YES!

Ice Wars Opinions

If you taped Ice Wars, then go back and look at Ilia Kulic's Lutz. Like Julia Sebastian's Lutz, it is as close to a perfect take off as you can get. I love how the Russian skater's were not afraid to use classical pieces of music. I know that Oxsana two footed the landings on most of her triples but she did not chicken out. I was very impressed with the speed she had going into her jumps. Although the double axel is not Oxsana's best jump, she did two of them. It's good to she here making a come back. As for as Nicole Bobec, her boobs really are bigger. Although, B&S were off on their second program, the artistic program, I think they are better over all. I would be fine just watching their stroking. Brian Botano's program was just plain stupid.
Daniel and Little Lulu

Overall loved the skating, didn't care who won.
Refreshing to see S&P skate to something else than Love Story. And B&S skate to something other than Chaplin, they have oeve used both of those program IMP.
Didn't like Victors music he used in the LP part.
Someone said Nicoles boobs were big and in the way, looks like she put some of her earning from COI to some use I notices that last spring during COI show I was at :D

Mr. RG and I absolutely loved this show! Even this morning, we were still talking about how wonderful it was. An absolute delight!

Oksana was amazing--what speed! What elegance! What talent! She looked gorgeous.

Kurt is the true master of footwork. His programs were fabulous, esp. the LP.

I have never been a great fan of Ilia's, but he was absolutely terrific. BTW, Susie's comment about some of his movements not being refined ranks up there with the most stupid comments of all time!

Daniel, I've got to agree about Boitano's programs. Yawn! A few years ago, he did a program with a chair placed on the ice. Mr. RG & I laughed ourselves silly over that chair and still giggle over it occasionally when reminiscing about old programs. Well, as you can imagine, we could barely contain ourselves when we saw not only the chair, but the DESK as well--plus the typewriter & briefcase! Mr. RG said, "What's next? An office building?"

I taped Ice Wars last night and just finished watching it......loved it, loved it...........now I have one question about Ilia......why isn't this man still in competition.......he is amazing and I was spell-bound as I watched him skate to "Nutcracker".....42

I too just loved Ice Wars! In fact I just got off the phone with my mother-in-law--we were discussing all the fab programs! So good to see Oksana back and skating well! Nicole was breathtaking (grrr for not showing her SP!). I have already rewatched Kurt's atristic program 3 times--oh the footwork! Ilia was awesome, the pairs were lovely, and I really liked Viktor's programs (nice to see him skate more and gyrate less!). Boitano's programs were OK--too much sitting and pretending to write.

Watching Kurt, for me, was like watching the best in figure skating. He had two 10 second moments of crossovers; the rest was pure intricate musical skating together with great jumps and spins. Nobody does it better!! All those 10s he received were well deserved.

I also liked Ilia especially the height in his jumps; Oksana for some skating moments that are hers alone. Both Pairs were wonderful. To be honest the reamining skaters didn't do it for me.

The competition seems to me to be so close to being a Show Spectacular, that I find myself not rooting for anyone (including Kurt). For me, it just seems to lack that hot 'tug-o-war' one finds in a serious competition. And of course, the teams will be entirely different next year so it is difficuilt to root for a team as well.